The first season ratings, the continued interest in the show, and the awards the show has been getting will likely lead to another renewal soon after the second season premiere. There have been rumors that HBO has told the producers to prepare to shoot the next two seasons back to back. Hopefully that'll turn out to be the case.

Unless an alternate dimesnion Ned Stark from a modernized, urban version of Westeros is going to show up in season two and start fondling his secretary on the Iron Thorne, in which case I apologize for spoiling everyone.

If HBO decides to end the series before Martin finishes the series, A Storm of Swords wouldn't be a bad one to end on. It wraps up several storylines and gives new futures to some of the characters. With the deaths of key Starks and Lannisters, the teeth go out of that rivalry as well.

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I don't see how that book could possibly serve as a satisfying ending to anything. Every character's situation ends on a cliffhanger, with none of the plots resolved.

I think the first four seasons, likely covering the first three books and some of the fourth book, will stick pretty closely to the books. After that things could veer off. HBO's head honcho has said that the show will definitely come to a proper conclusion, but he parsed his words very carefully and basically said it could be a conclusion that doesn't follow the timescale of the books. The producers know the ending Martin intends, so it must be unnerving for Martin that they could get to his ending by a shorter route on the show if he takes too long with the final two books.

If HBO decides to end the series before Martin finishes the series, A Storm of Swords wouldn't be a bad one to end on. It wraps up several storylines and gives new futures to some of the characters. With the deaths of key Starks and Lannisters, the teeth go out of that rivalry as well.

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I don't see how that book could possibly serve as a satisfying ending to anything. Every character's situation ends on a cliffhanger, with none of the plots resolved.

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I wouldn't want to see it end there but if they had to end it early, I think Book 3 would be the most logical place.

I think the first four seasons, likely covering the first three books and some of the fourth book, will stick pretty closely to the books. After that things could veer off. HBO's head honcho has said that the show will definitely come to a proper conclusion, but he parsed his words very carefully and basically said it could be a conclusion that doesn't follow the timescale of the books. The producers know the ending Martin intends, so it must be unnerving for Martin that they could get to his ending by a shorter route on the show if he takes too long with the final two books.

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Then the series would be a spoiler for the books instead of the other way around...? That'd be odd. Given GRRM's close association w/this production I find that implausible. Given the event that the new book was his publishers would be apoplectic. Perhaps the popularity of the series will spur him to spare us a little more of his valuable time for writing to ensure he beats them to the finish line!

His short story collections are quite fantastic with only a few real clunkers in there, mostly from early in his career. The "Dunk and Egg" novellas are a must-read out of all his short work if you're an ASOIAF fan.

Dying of the Light, A Song for Lya & Fevre Dream aren't quite on par with ASOIAF but well worth reading.

The Armageddon Rag and the Wild Cards series are less enthralling, but I enjoyed them.

Then the series would be a spoiler for the books instead of the other way around...? That'd be odd. Given GRRM's close association w/this production I find that implausible. Given the event that the new book was his publishers would be apoplectic. Perhaps the popularity of the series will spur him to spare us a little more of his valuable time for writing to ensure he beats them to the finish line!

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Given how many people now have a big financial stake in the series, I think he'll be under enormous pressure to finish the series in a timely fashion. In fact if he's stuggling to stay on target it wouldn't surprise me if he secretly used a co-writer to speed things up.

Martin says he’s knuckling under with THE WINDS OF WINTER. As for a deadline he shakes his head and only offers, "I've given up making any predictions after my experience with A DANCE WITH DRAGONS as they just bite me on the ass. I'll just write as fast as I can, make it as good as I can, a page and a word at a time, and eventually it will be done."

He does admit to feeling a twing more pressure now with the TV series gaining on him. "I hope they make Book 3 into two seasons. I think Books 4 and 5 will have to be two seasons each as well, so that gives me four years to finish," he laughs. "But really that’s something I have to disregard. Part of the struggle with A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, or even A FEAST FOR CROWS before it, is when I become too conscious of the book being late or a deadline approaching it just slows me down further, if it doesn't stop me all together, so suddenly I'm worried about the big picture. It's soul-destroying and you have to forget the external world, or at least that I have to. You have to put yourself in Westeros and say, 'Here I am on a battlefield, and I’m Tyrion now. How would he say that?' And eventually the whole story will be done that way."

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I don't know he arrives at the four-year estimate if he's banking on the third, fourth and fifth books each being split into two seasons. That would give him considerably longer - unless he thinks HBO will start airing more than one season per year. Anyway, I don't think Feast and Dance will get two seasons each, or at least not without the producers reshaping the material to a very significant degree.

Well, since they take place mostly at the same time, I would imagine they'll be combining the events of the books and the entirety of four and five will take two seasons, with each season being half of both books.

Wow, when they first announced the actress cast as Brienne, I thought she didn't fit at all. After that picture, though, I think all of my fears have been assuaged. Davos also looks like he stepped right out of my imagination. Stannis will still take some getting used to. I always imagined him a more imposing figure.